Abstract

This month, we’ll be hearing from the winners of the 2017 Biomaker Challenge!

BEST TECHNOLOGY : Open Science Approaches to Protein Purification

Stéphanie Polderdijk and Wolfgang Schmied set out to lower the cost of column chromatography: a routine technique for the separation of components from complex mixtures. In biochemistry and molecular biology, proteins frequently need to be purified by gravity flow, centrifugation, which are time-consuming or by using expensive automated systems that use pumps to force solutions over a column. They produced a lower cost, modular, open-source alternative to these commercial systems for performing simple, routine purifications.

BEST BIOLOGY : Small Animal Monitoring- The Maker Perspective

Marcel Gehrung, Dominick McIntyre and Lina Hacker (all from CRUK Cambridge Institute) developed a low-cost rodent physiology monitor which is suitable for a wide range of experiments and imaging applications such as Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and Computed Tomography (CT). Parameters such as Heart Rate (HR), Respiratory Rate (RR), and Temperature can be measured which are important to reduce data artefacts. Existing solutions are in the cost range of several thousand pounds and do not support the holistic workflow required in animal experiments.

See you there!

Café Synthetique is the monthly meetup for the Cambridge synthetic biology community with informal talks, discussion and pub snacks.